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Jay Wright (poet)
Jay Wright (born May 25, 1934) is an African-American poet, playwright, and essayist, the 1st African-American to win the Bollingen Prize. Life Wright was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Jay Wright, Poets.org, Academy of American Poets. Web, May 1, 2015. He lives in Bradford, Vermont. Career Before embarking on his writing career, Wright played professional baseball, mostly with the Pacific Coast League minor league team the San Diego Padres. After his baseball career, Wright studied comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and Rutgers University. In the 1960s, he befriended fellow African-American author Henry Dumas and later wrote the introduction to Dumas's Play Ebony, Play Ivory: Poetry. Over the years Wright has been poet in residence at Yale University as well as historically black colleges and universities such as Talladega College, Tougaloo College, Texas Southern University, and the University of Dundee. Writing Although his work is not as widely known as other American poets of his generation, it has received considerable critical acclaim. Wright's work is emblematic of what Guyanese-British writer Wilson Harris has termed the "cross-cultural imagination." Recognition *1986 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship *1996 Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets *2000 Lannan Literary Award *2005 Bollingen Prize in Poetry, becoming the 1st African-American writer to be so honored *2006 American Book Award Lifetime Achievement Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Other awards and honors include an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Literary Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Rockefeller Brothers theological fellowship, and the Oscar Williams and Gene Derwood Award. Publications Poetry *''Death as History'' (chapbook). Kriya Press, 1967. *''The Homecoming Singer''. Corinth, 1971. *''Soothsayers and Omens''. New York: Seven Woods Press, 1976. *''Dimensions of History''. Santa Cruz, CA: Kayak, 1976. *''The Double Invention of Komo''. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1980. *''Explications / Interpretations''. Books on Demand (Callaloo Poetry Series), 1984. *''Selected Poems'' (edited by Robert B. Stepto, with afterword by Harold Bloom). Books on Demand, 1987. *''Elaine’s Book''. Books on Demand, 1988. *''Boleros''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. *''Transfigurations: Collected poems''. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2000. *''Music’s Mask and Measure''. Chicago: Flood Editions, 2007. *''The Guide Signs: Book one and Book two''. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2007. *''The Presentable Art of Reading Absence''. Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2008. *''Polynomials and Pollen: Parables, proverbs, paradigms, and praise for Lois''. Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2008. Plays *''Balloons: A comedy in one act''. Boston: Baker’s Plays, 1968. Non-fiction *Introduction to Henry Dumas, Poetry for My People (edited by Hale Chaffield & Eugene Redmond). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970. Anthologized *''New Negro Poets: U.S.A.'' (edited by Langston Hughes). Indiana University Press, 1964. *''For Malcolm: Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X'' (edited by Dudley Randall & Margaret Burroughs). Broadside Press, 1967. *''Black Fire'' (edited by LeRoi Jones & Larry Neal). Morrow, 1968. *''The Poetry of Black America'' (edited by Arnold Adoff). New York: Harper, 1972. *''New Black Voices'' (edited by Abraham Chapman). New York: New American Library, 1972. Except where noted, bibliographical infomration courtesy the Poetry Foundation.Jay Wright b. 1935, Poetry Foundation, Web, Jan. 9, 2012 See also *African-American poets *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems * Jay Wright profile & 2 poems at the Academy of American Poets. *Jay Wright b. 1935 at the Poetry Foundation. *Jay Wright at AfroPoets (10 poems) ;Books *Jay Wright at Amazon.com ;About *Wright, Jay, in Oxford Companion to African-American Literature. * Jay Wright (b. 1935) at Cengage.com. * Book Review: Transfigurations * Jay Wright's poetry focus of symposium at Washington University Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:American poets Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:People from Albuquerque, New Mexico Category:People from Bradford, Vermont Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:African American poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets